The Understanding Watercooling Thread

WaterCooling your PC is becoming a very popular thing to do as of late in the overclocking world.. This is not meant to be an extensive how to guide, but is simply meant to educate those thinking about water cooling their computer.

Important Fact Alert: The pressure of the coolant in the tubing does not matter. The only thing that matters is the flow. The cooling will be the same.

Important Fact Alert: The order of the components does not matter as long as the T-Line or Reservoir are right before the pump. The flow is the same through all of the components but the pressure is not!

The Watercooling “Loop” – Each part is listed and then described.

The CPU Waterblock:

The CPU Block is the main cornerstone of the system. It sits on top of the cpu. Up to ten degrees can be the difference between a poor and a solid waterblock. Stay away from acrylic topped blocks as they will crack over time. Always stay away from blocks that are mad eof a mixture of copper and aluminum as the will experience excessive corrosion over time. Brass topped blocks are much more durable.

Two types:

Impingement – Needs a powerful pump to get good cooling. Though it needs a better pump, these perform best when accompanying a powerful pump.
Example: TDX from Danger Den

Non Impingement – Can cool well without an extremely powerful water pump.. These are much more mainstream.
Example: MCW6002 from Swiftech

Out of the two designs the non-impingement designs tend to be cheaper and offer better bang-for-buck, but if you have to have the maximum performance go with an impingement style block, but be prepared to spend a little bit more for it.

It is very important to get the proper thread and fitting for the waterblock. Doing this assures that it stays tightly in place on the cpu. I will not go into threading sizes as this would take far more space and time than I have available.

The Pump:
The Pump is a important factor when determining the effectiveness of your watercooling loop. There are different tubing sizes for different pumps. The pump is what pushes the water through your system.

Important Fact Alert:

Before I talk about the different types of pumps there is something that should be explained. Many people think that the flow rate rating on the pump is the thing that they should be looking at most closely when shopping for a pump. But infact it isn’t. The most important item that should be taken into consideration when purchasing a pump is the head pressure of the pump. The head pressure is the amount of water that the pump can push in a vertical column. This with a jet shot straight up in the air and the height of it measured. For example my Iwaki MD-20 has 14feet of head pressure. That means that it can pump 14feet of water in a piece of Â¾inch tubing. The reason that max flow rate is not really a concern when picking a pump is that the max flow that you will ever see in a loop is around 3gpm. At 3gpm, your average system would represent around 14-15 feet of head restriction. So that means you have to have a pump that can provide 14-15 feet of head at 3gpm. To achieve this a pump with roughly 25feet of head pressure would be required.

You may be asking yourself why you wouldn’t need a 14-15foot of head pump. Well the reason is that pumps head pressure is measured at 0 flow rate. As the flow rate goes up the head pressure that the pump can provide goes down. At max flow the head pressure of a pump is 0 and at max head pressure the flow rate is 0.

Important Fact Alert:
There is also one more thing to take into consideration when buying any pump. And that is heat dump. Or in laymen’s terms, how much heat (in Watts) the pump puts into the water that is flowing through it

The two basic types of pumps are:

AC (Alternating current which comes from your wall outlet) and DC (Direct Current, which is converted from AC and is uses in most electronic devices including computers). AC powered pumps run from your wall outlet and are generally larger than their DC powered counterparts. The DC pumps run from the 12volt line on your computer and have a standard Molex connector on them. In recent years they have become very popular in the watercooling community for the small size, ease of setup and excellent performance.
Radiator
The radiator is an essential part of a watercooling system, as it removes the heat in the water deposited form the waterblocks and the pump. Without it the system would overheat in a matter of seconds. There are many different shapes and sizes radiators come in. Some are better than others, but it all depends on application and the fans chosen. There are two types of radiators that are commonly used in watercooling setups. The first are the purpose built radiators that are designed to accommodate 120mm fans (some also use 80mm fans) and have different types of hose barbs for a myriad of applications. The second are heatercores. Heatercores are the heating elements used in car heating systems. There are plus and minus’ to both solutions that I will discuss.

The radiator’s purpose is to remove the heat in the water. Without such a vital part, your computer would fail in less than a minute. There are two types of radiators.

The all purpose radiator: Usually comes in 80mm or 120mm size and are built to accommodate a fan. They have a basic design and are very mainstream. They do not offer the absolute best cooling but are very easily purchased and installed

Th heatercore: used in car heating uses and systems. Use a high noise design. I do not recommend one for a new watercooler or anybody inexperienced as it is more difficult to gain aid if you experience difficulty.

Definitions:
Passes - Passes are how many directions the water goes in the radiator while being cooled.

”Low Noise” – Low Fins PerInch – Soft with a slight hiccup in performance
Important Fact Alert:
Generally and 80mm Radiator, that is containing an 80mm fan, will not cool greatly enough for a high powered system. Overlcocked systems will not be greatly helped by an 80mm radiator. You should use a 120mm radiator for a regular system, a dual 120mm radiator if you are cooling both the gpu (graphics processing unit) and processor.

Important Fact Alert:
If you the air being pushed out of your radiator feels warm, the radiator is not cooling your system efficiently.

Tubing
The tubing is the lining structure in your setup. There are different sizes and types of tubing which I will now outline. The major problem with tubing is kinks. Kinks are when the tubing gets folded and starts to obstruct water flow.

Two Types:

Tygon – It is the most expensive of the two. It is better at staying kink free. It does not get negatively affected by extra coolant chemical added to the water or used in place of the water.

Clearflex – It is much cheaper than tygon. It is harder to find than tygon is.
Sizes: Generally, the size of your tubing will be either 3/8 inch or ½ inch. For maximum performance, the ½ inch variety provides much better flow. For tight spaces, the 3/8 kind is easier to install.

The point of a reservoir is to hold the water that is used in your system and to remove any bubbles that form. The process of removing bubbles is called “bleeding.” To do this most effectively, you should place your reservoir at te highest possible point, or at least higher than the other components in your loop.

If possible, get oversized fittings in comparison to your tubing. The larger fittings will allow more flow.

A T-Line is the other possibility if there is no room for a reservoir. Though the T-Line is smaller, the bleeding process will take much much longer. I literally mean about 50x as much time.

Coolant Liquid
To fill your loop, use distilled water. So called “non-conductive” liquids still are semi-conductive and will not give much better performance.

Anti – Corrosion: For the past year, I have been using Zerez Racing Super Coolant. Some kind of additive is needed to avoid corrosion, algae, and acid build up from electric charge. Many different additives can be used but I still suggest Zerez for high powered systems despite it’s price and limited stock.

Hose Clamps
The hose clamps are what seal your system together and attack all of the tubing together. There are four types of hose clamps, excluding bands and zip ties.

Plastic Clamps: Very common. Not as trusted or strong as alternatives.Worm Drive – Made of steel, fasten using screwsSmooth Band – Fasten using a metal clamp mechanism. These use what is called a lock tight to keep the screw from looseningSelf Tightening Clamps – Use tabs on the side to clamp and unclamp the tubing

Which should I pick?
The worm drive variety are very resistant to motion. Either of the other two besides the Plastic type will give you good performance. If you are using very thin tubes, the worm drive would not be a good option since it does not fasten on the tubing very evenly.

GPU Waterblock
I will go over this briefly. Unlike CPU cooling, the gpu is usually cooled well by aftermarket air systems. Under normal circumstances, watercooling will not dramatically cool the video card gpu more then the aftermarket fans will. This is due to the fact that currently gpu blocks are much less efficient than their cpu cooling counterparts.

Fans
Just because you are installing watercooling does not mean that you can do away with all of your old fans. If you are using a high noise radiator and more specifically a heatercore it is necessary to have smaller (like 38mm) fans in your computer.

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That sums up my guide eon the basics of watercooling. I hope that if you read this that you learned a little bit. I will be making a guide on how to clean out your watercooling system aswell at a later time…these take a long time to make.

Important Fact Alert:
A general rule of thumb for the order of installation is the following
Pump – radiator – CPU Block – GPU Block -Reservoir

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Here is a basic diagram of the process

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Taken from Xtreme Systems:

In this guide I will give a listing of all of the current watercooling hardware on the market. For each item I will give a short description, along with the appropriate use for that item.

Most of the items in the guide are U.S. / U.K. based due to the largely english speaking and located readership. Also, most of the 'Euro' based components are not easily compatible with regards to fittings with 'American' components. As such, for simplicities sake I will omit them.

CPU WaterBlocks

1. Swiftech Storm - 75USD - this is the top performing waterblock currently in retail. It is better suited to more powerful pumps, but still performs well with low flow/power pumps. Apparently the Storm is no longer dsicontinued, but it seems there are now large price hikes, and somewhat limited availability.
Due to repeated incidents in which the storm is improperly installed, please be advised that the proper way to install the tubing on the storm is as follows: inlet in the center and outlet towards the outer edge.

2. Swiftech MCW6002/6000 - 45USD - for low power/flow pumps these waterblocks are top performers.. with moderate restriction these waterblocks matched with low power pumps will net decent flow to allow usage of a second waterblock

3. Cooltechnica MP-05 LE - 50-65USD - a high restriction waterblock with excelent performance. while it does not outperform the Storm per pump power, its lower pricetag makes it an attractive choice. The newly updated LE version boasts higher performance per flow and keeps its price tage competitive with the Swiftech Storm. It is not know at this time, which one will take the performance crown.

4. Danger Den TDX - 52USD - while a good waterblock, it is not an optimum choice of waterblock for a high or low power pump system. I list it merely for completeness of the guide.

5. Danger Den RBX - 52USD - Again, a good waterblock, but not worth considering unless you have some desire for a 3 barb waterblock.

7. Swiftech Apogee - 45USD - The newest block from Swiftech that takes a step backwards in performance. It is essentially a MCW5000 respun with a new manufacturing process (cheaper), and new delrin top. While Swiftech says its the best thing since sliced bread and Television, please try to avoid it as EVERY other block on this list performs superior to the Apogee.

GPU WaterBlocks

1. Danger Den Maze4 Acetal - 45USD - this is an excelent gpu waterblock with incredibly low restriction and great performance. I personally use one and generally reccomend them to everyone.

2. Cooltechnica MP-1 - 45USD - A newcomer to the gpu cooling segment, the MP-1 shows great potential, but with no publicly available data it cannot yet recieve my top reccomendation. With that said, sources say the waterblock performs several centigrade better than the Maze4.

3. Swiftech MCW-55 - 50USD - A revamp of the proven design of the MCW50. with improved flow characteristics it provides lower flow restriction and increased performance compared to the older, aluminum topped, MCW50. The waterblock performs on par with the Maze4. It should be noted that the performance data on this waterblock provided by swiftech should not be trusted. While their data is generally excelent, in the case of the MCW-55, it is.. in a word.. rubbish.

4. Cyclone Fusion HL - ~60USD - An Aussie waterblock of excelent construction and performance that is said to perform better than the Maze4. While this may be true there is no data as of yet to validate this. While an excelent blocks expense make it a less attractive option.

5. MCW-60 - 60USD - the MCW-60 is the next step up from the MCW-55. It uses the same base plate as the Apogee, and uses a molded delrin top. No performance data is available, but it should perform on par with the top sellers, the Maze-4 and MP-1. For 45 dollars the MCW-60 is actaully an incredible value as it comes with 8 MCW-14 ramsinks, normally around 15 dollars.

Radiators:

Low Noise
1. HWLabs Black Ice Pro (1, 2 and 3) - 29-45USD - The Black Ice Pro's have been around for a long time and are excelent performers. Currently they are the only 2 and 3 fan radiators that are orientated to quiet computing.

2. Thermochill PA160.1 - 80-130USD (price varies wildly between retailers) - The PA160 is a revolutionary radiator designed in part by Cathar. It is a single 120mm fan radiator that performs close to that of dual fan radiators. Due to its expense (outside of the UK) to performance ratio its hard to recomend it in any but very special situations, but it is still a great radiator.

3. Thermochill PA120.X - 80 to 120 USD - Described as the new king of cool, I highly reccomend these rads. They are pretty much the perfect radiator.. High cooling capacity while optimized for low noise fans.. Not much more you can ask for in a radiator. I should note that as of writing this there has not been any test data presented, but from calculations provided by Cathar, these radiators should not fail to live up to their name.

4. Swiftech MCR220-QP - 42 USD - The creation of Bill Adams, formely of Swiftech, the MCR220-QP is an excelent low CFM optimized radiator. the MCR220 is positioned between the Black Ice Pro2 and PA120.2 with regards to performance. But the nice thing is that its very economically priced. At the time of writting, they are priced at 41.99 at CrazyPC. While a bit more expensive, than the BIP2, if you have the extra 10 dollars, it would be 10 dollars well spent. The MCR220-QP comes in two colors, black and blue.

High Noise
1. HW Labs Black Ice Xtreme (1, 2, 3) - 45-78USD - These radiators provide excelent high power fan (110+CFM) performance while having a lower pricetag than the Thermochill HE series. There are rumors that the HE's perform better than the BIX series, but I really wont make such a claim as I have not seen any test data to backup such claims.

2. Thermochill HE120.X - 80 - 120 USD - Formerly Thermochills main line of radiators, they are still an excelent choice if you plan to use fans that are over 110CFM. For users in the UK who want such a radiator the Thermochills would probably be a better choice (compared to BIX's) due to cheaper costs over there.

As for tubing, Tygon is essentially a vinyl tubing with a greater wall thickness. It is a common assumption that it is 'better' than vinyl (almost all mod sites even declare this, although it is most likely due to the greater profit margin).

If you find a vinyl (65 duro, or so) tubing with the same wall thickness, it won't kink, either.

Another point of interest, are fittings. Again, most manufactureres adhere to a standard barb diameter, and they will all be aprox. the same. You don't want to go TOO much bigger, as in, an entire step-up, as it will cause the tubing to tear. Vinyl-based materials are not the best at stretching. Also make a point to get a barb without a parting line. This is another common problem with the parts I see sold at online stores.

What setups can benefit from watercooling and when should people consider it?

What's an approximate price of a basic watercooling setup like, say, the Smart Parts Ion of watercooling if you know what I mean?

Any setup could benefit from it, although it would be pointless in some... Basically, it can't hurt.

Reasons for watercooling include, performance, noise control, and cosmetic appeal. It allows overclockers to keep temperatures lower (water transfers heat at a higher rate than air), thus enabling them to overclock to higher speeds. It can eliminate the oftentimes EXTREMELY noisy CPU fan, and VGA fans... And c'mon, there is something undeniably cool about looking at a watercooled computer

You can get dirt cheap with it; we're talking sub-$100. However, you don't want to. For an average priced watercooling setup, that will perform more than adequately, look at around $200. You can get much higher - mine totalled something like $500, but this is definitely not necessary. Danger Den comes highly recommended from me.

I figured, I was just giving him a quick answer. Although he may have already known, and was just inferring that it needed to be added.

Regardless... The guide is looking good so far.

Well, I had a vague idea for the first question but I didn't know prices at all. I just MIGHT consider dropping $200 for a setup within the next year or so. I'm a mechanical engineering student and just did a year of learning about pump performance and fluid circuits (hmm, also a bunch of heat transfer too) so this is all pretty interesting to me.

Well, I had a vague idea for the first question but I didn't know prices at all. I just MIGHT consider dropping $200 for a setup within the next year or so. I'm a mechanical engineering student and just did a year of learning about pump performance and fluid circuits (hmm, also a bunch of heat transfer too) so this is all pretty interesting to me.

Plastic sorry man I didn't mean to be rude. I won't be here all of the time and I very much appreciate the help.

No, not at all, I didn't take it that way.

No problem.

By the way. If anyone needs tubing, fittings, clamps, or basically any of the plastic watercooling components, drop me a PM. I can get them at around 10% of the cost of any online stores, and they are of the utmost quality. Not a sales pitch, I'll sell them at manufacturing cost.

As a general rule Kits are garbage, pick and choose your parts for an optimal system. To not go cheap on water cooling. For a proper system to cool your CPU and GPU expect to pay $300. Quality cannot be undersold.

I'd also like to add something to the coolant section.

Water buy far is the most cost effective liquid for any WC system. A proper mixture for antifreeze to water in an all copper/brass system would be 5% antifreeze to 95% water. If you have an Aluminum Copper mix system (I highly advise against due to the 'battery effect') a 15% antifreeze to 85% water. Antifreeze alone isn't enough, antifreeze is NOT an algaecide. It's only toxic to mammals because the way our bodies process it. The reason antifreeze is used is because of it's surface tension breaking abilities which allow more contact from water to water block or water to radiator. In order to kill everything that can grow in a watercooling loop you must first flush every part completely out. Residue from the factory can contain metal shavings, dust/dirt as well as organisms that will grow inside your nice warm lit environment. 5-7 Drops of Iodine inside your average watercooling system will kill everything that can grow inside your system. Last but not least, DO NOT use tap water, ever! Distilled water should be the only thing that goes in your loop, not spring water, drinking water, any kind of bottled water. A gallon should last you a while and can be found at walmart for 40 cents, don't cheap out over this step.

And this to the radiator.

In terms of size, bigger is always better. The larger your radiator the more area it has to get rid of all the heat that it pulled away from your CPU and/or GPU. This critical part is frequently overlooked. People under budget typically skip on a radiator, buy an improper radiator or buy one that is far too small for their system. If you can get at least a dual 120mm radiator then do so. There are two main styles of radiators, those based on the 'heater core style' that use thin flat tubes, travel in typically a double or single pass and have rows of cooling fins between them. The other is found in HVAC systems and used as condensers on AC units. The latter heater core style is the best for PC water cooling. The former HVAC style is suited to high pressure systems and doesn't provide optimal contact to the cooling fins. As far as single or double pass, it doesn't really matter, some claim to better cooling some to worse, in the end the water has the same contact with the cooling fins. Normally the double pass radiators are easer to work with because the fittings are on one side rather then on opposite ends like the single pass.

In this guide I will give a listing of all of the current watercooling hardware on the market. For each item I will give a short description, along with the appropriate use for that item.

Most of the items in the guide are U.S. / U.K. based due to the largely english speaking and located readership. Also, most of the 'Euro' based components are not easily compatible with regards to fittings with 'American' components. As such, for simplicities sake I will omit them.

To purchase the items listed in this guide, check out my "stores" guide which is located here.

CPU WaterBlocks

1. Swiftech Storm - 75USD - this is the top performing waterblock currently in retail. It is better suited to more powerful pumps, but still performs well with low flow/power pumps. Apparently the Storm is no longer dsicontinued, but it seems there are now large price hikes, and somewhat limited availability.Due to repeated incidents in which the storm is improperly installed, please be advised that the proper way to install the tubing on the storm is as follows: inlet in the center and outlet towards the outer edge.

2. Swiftech MCW6002/6000 - 45USD - for low power/flow pumps these waterblocks are top performers.. with moderate restriction these waterblocks matched with low power pumps will net decent flow to allow usage of a second waterblock

3. Cooltechnica MP-05 LE - 50-65USD - a high restriction waterblock with excelent performance. while it does not outperform the Storm per pump power, its lower pricetag makes it an attractive choice. The newly updated LE version boasts higher performance per flow and keeps its price tage competitive with the Swiftech Storm. It is not know at this time, which one will take the performance crown.

4. Danger Den TDX - 52USD - while a good waterblock, it is not an optimum choice of waterblock for a high or low power pump system. I list it merely for completeness of the guide.

5. Danger Den RBX - 52USD - Again, a good waterblock, but not worth considering unless you have some desire for a 3 barb waterblock.

7. Swiftech Apogee - 45USD - The newest block from Swiftech that takes a step backwards in performance. It is essentially a MCW5000 respun with a new manufacturing process (cheaper), and new delrin top. While Swiftech says its the best thing since sliced bread and Television, please try to avoid it as EVERY other block on this list performs superior to the Apogee.

GPU WaterBlocks

1. Danger Den Maze4 Acetal - 45USD - this is an excelent gpu waterblock with incredibly low restriction and great performance. I personally use one and generally reccomend them to everyone.

2. Cooltechnica MP-1 - 45USD - A newcomer to the gpu cooling segment, the MP-1 shows great potential, but with no publicly available data it cannot yet recieve my top reccomendation. With that said, sources say the waterblock performs several centigrade better than the Maze4.

3. Swiftech MCW-55 - 50USD - A revamp of the proven design of the MCW50. with improved flow characteristics it provides lower flow restriction and increased performance compared to the older, aluminum topped, MCW50. The waterblock performs on par with the Maze4. It should be noted that the performance data on this waterblock provided by swiftech should not be trusted. While their data is generally excelent, in the case of the MCW-55, it is.. in a word.. rubbish.

4. Cyclone Fusion HL - ~60USD - An Aussie waterblock of excelent construction and performance that is said to perform better than the Maze4. While this may be true there is no data as of yet to validate this. While an excelent blocks expense make it a less attractive option.

5. MCW-60 - 60USD - the MCW-60 is the next step up from the MCW-55. It uses the same base plate as the Apogee, and uses a molded delrin top. No performance data is available, but it should perform on par with the top sellers, the Maze-4 and MP-1. For 45 dollars the MCW-60 is actaully an incredible value as it comes with 8 MCW-14 ramsinks, normally around 15 dollars.

Radiators

Before I list the products I will explain why I broke them up into two categories. There are generally two users out there: the gunho, tone deaf, noise doesnt matter, and the silent computerist. So to cater to this, I broke the radiators into the low noise and high noise orientated groups.

Note: With high power fans, the "high noise" radiators will outperform the low noise radiators, but when coupled with low noise fans the "low noise" radiators outperform the others.

Low Noise

1. HWLabs Black Ice Pro (1, 2 and 3) - 29-45USD - The Black Ice Pro's have been around for a long time and are excelent performers. Currently they are the only 2 and 3 fan radiators that are orientated to quiet computing.

2. Thermochill PA160.1 - 80-130USD (price varies wildly between retailers) - The PA160 is a revolutionary radiator designed in part by Cathar. It is a single 120mm fan radiator that performs close to that of dual fan radiators. Due to its expense (outside of the UK) to performance ratio its hard to recomend it in any but very special situations, but it is still a great radiator.

3. Thermochill PA120.X - 80 to 120 USD - Described as the new king of cool, I highly reccomend these rads. They are pretty much the perfect radiator.. High cooling capacity while optimized for low noise fans.. Not much more you can ask for in a radiator. I should note that as of writing this there has not been any test data presented, but from calculations provided by Cathar, these radiators should not fail to live up to their name.

4. Swiftech MCR220-QP - 42 USD - The creation of Bill Adams, formely of Swiftech, the MCR220-QP is an excelent low CFM optimized radiator. the MCR220 is positioned between the Black Ice Pro2 and PA120.2 with regards to performance. But the nice thing is that its very economically priced. At the time of writting, they are priced at 41.99 at CrazyPC. While a bit more expensive, than the BIP2, if you have the extra 10 dollars, it would be 10 dollars well spent. The MCR220-QP comes in two colors, black and blue.

5. CoolingWorks 22-T and 32-T - 44 and 60USD - Another radiator designed in part by Bill Adams, now of CoolingWorks, these two radiators have BIX like dimmensions, but have a lower FPI (12) which lends them to use with lower speed fans such as the yate-loons. No data is available at this time, but expect them to perform relativley similarly to the MCR series and Thermochill PA series (assuming same size radiators are compared; ie double, tripple) Their low price makes them an attractive option for those who cannot afford the PA series from thermochill.

High Noise

1. HW Labs Black Ice Xtreme (1, 2, 3) - 45-78USD - These radiators provide excelent high power fan (110+CFM) performance while having a lower pricetag than the Thermochill HE series. There are rumors that the HE's perform better than the BIX series, but I really wont make such a claim as I have not seen any test data to backup such claims.

2. Thermochill HE120.X - 80 - 120 USD - Formerly Thermochills main line of radiators, they are still an excelent choice if you plan to use fans that are over 110CFM. For users in the UK who want such a radiator the Thermochills would probably be a better choice (compared to BIX's) due to cheaper costs over there.